Georgetown Security Law Brief

GOP Senators announce competing cybersecurity bill

02/17/12: The National Journal reports that Republican committee leaders announced a competing cybersecurity bill on Thursday even as Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman sought to consolidate support for his comprehensive proposals. Lieberman is pushing his Cybersecurity Act of 2012, which would increase government oversight of some private networks like electric grids, water systems, or transportation, which could be at risk of cyberattacks. The Department of Homeland Security would be responsible for determining which businesses should be considered critical infrastructure. 

Philly airport TSA instructor charged with bribery

02/17/12: The Sacramento Bee reports that a Transportation Security Administration instructor at Philadelphia International Airport is facing bribery charges. Federal prosecutors said Thursday that 29-year-old Shannon Gilliam of Sharon Hill of Pennsylvania took a $200 bribe in exchange for ensuring a passing grade on an annual certification exam by taking a test for a security officer. A TSA official said both people had been suspended indefinitely, pending the outcome of the investigation.

First new US nuclear reactors in decades approved

02/10/12: The Los Angeles Times reports that a consortium of utilities in the South won government approval Thursday to construct two new atomic energy reactors at an estimated cost of $14 billion, the strongest signal yet that the three-decade hiatus of nuclear plant construction is finally ending. Several new projects will test whether new technology and streamlined government licensing can help the industry avoid the economic and safety disasters that have tainted its past, nuclear experts say, though critics condemned the action by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

TSA expands pre-check program to 28 airports

02/09/12: The Hill reports that the TSA is expanding its known-traveler program to the "busiest US airports." The program allows passengers to volunteer information in exchange for the possibility of receiving expedited screening. According to TSA Administrator John Pistole, the expansion moves the agency "closer to our goal of delivering the most effective and efficient screening by recognizing that most passengers do not pose a threat to security. “We are pleased to expand this important effort . . . as we move away from a one-size-fits-all approach to a more intelligence-driven, risk-based transportation security system,” Pistole said.

Counter-terrorism chemical labs test for synthetic pot

01/29/12: The Los Angeles Times reports that Jeffery H. Moran, chief of the counter-terrorism laboratory at the Arkansas Department of Health — one of 62 such federally funded labs in the country — has been armed with $2 million worth of new equipment. Recently, Moran has given his staff a new task — helping police in half a dozen states identify "Spice," a chemical substance that produces a marijuana-like high and has sent hundreds of users to emergency rooms. Using a counter-terrorism lab to test for synthetic marijuana is the latest sign of how a multibillion-dollar national infrastructure built to detect or respond to chemical or biological attacks over the last decade has adapted to the lack of any actual attacks.

Mexico increases swine flu screening as cases increase

01/27/12: ABC News reports that three years after swine flu closed Mexico City and caused an international scare, the Mexican government and local media are at odds over the severity of this season's flu virus. Newspapers are warning of an alarming increase in cases while the government insists there is no cause for alarm. Federal and state health officials agree there is an increase, but they say the number of cases is within the range of a normal flu season. The Mexican health ministry, however, has listed confusing numbers on its website and refuses to respond to inquiries as to the specific rise in cases.

NYC operators to provide crisis information as called for by 9/11 Commission

01/06/12: The Chicago Tribune reports that NYC's 911 operators are now able to give callers details about emergency events, reversing what the September 11 Commission determined were flaws in a system that a decade ago denied people inside the burning World Trade Center potentially lifesaving information, officials said Thursday. "Call takers now are given specific information dealing with a particular emergency so that they can transfer that information to callers much more quickly," police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said at the formal launch of a new $680 million 911 call center.

Victims of Fort Hood shooting sue the Army for $750 million

11/11/11: CNN reports that victims and families of those killed in the Fort Hood massacre are asking compensation totaling $750 million from the government for failing to stop the attack. Eighty-three administrative claims were filed last week, saying the Army, the FBI, and the Justice and Defense departments are guilty of gross and willful negligence for not recognizing that the man charged in the shootings, Major Nidal Hasan, was a threat.

First nationwide test of Emergency Alert System set for Wednesday at 2pm

11/09/11: CNN reports that when millions of Americans hear that warning at 2 pm ET Wednesday, the words will sound familiar, but the occasion will be historic. It will mark the first-ever nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, a system that enables the president to address the American public within 10 minutes from any location at any time. All previous tests of the system have been local or regional, and have involved the voluntary compliance of broadcasters. The test for the first time features a live "presidential" alert code, which instructs TV and radio stations that the alert takes priority over all programming.

China urges IAEA to enhance nuclear safeguards

11/02/11: The Miami Herald reports that China has urged the International Atomic Energy Agency to do more to strengthen nuclear safety and to use lessons taken from Japan's crisis to improve the handling of emergencies. Wang Min, a Chinese delegate to the United Nations, said Tuesday at a UN session on the IAEA's annual report that the body should work to restore confidence in atomic energy shaken by the meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant caused by the March earthquake and tsunami.

How to keep courts running after terror attack

10/19/11: The Las Vegas Sun shares news of a report from Norman Ornstein and John Fortier of the American Enterprise Institute, and Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution. These experts on government continuity say a terrorist attack that killed four or more Supreme Court justices would significantly hamper the ability of the entire federal judiciary to carry out its work. They urged relatively minor changes in federal law to allow the courts to keep working in the event of a catastrophic strike.

Citing scope of 9/11, NY judge tosses 7 WTC suit

09/24/11: CBS News reports that in tossing out a negligence lawsuit, a judge on Friday cited the "strange, improbable" events that destroyed a 47-story World Trade Center building a decade ago on September 11, several hours after the 110-story twin towers fell. The claims by the Consolidated Edison Co. of New York were "too farfetched and tenuous" to survive, US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said.

Homeland security chief says disaster aid fund ‘running on fumes,’ could be empty next week

09/22/11: The Washington Post reports that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says the government’s main disaster aid account is “running on fumes” and could be tapped out by early next week. Napolitano says she’s counting on Congress to provide more aid money because without the additional relief dollars, there will be delays in getting disaster projects approved. She wouldn’t say what arrangements the Federal Emergency Management Agency has made to prepare in the event the money runs out.

9/11 panel says US remains vulnerable to cyberterrorism and 'lone wolf' terrorists

09/16/11: The Associated Press reports that former members of the 9/11 commission warned Thursday that despite efforts during the last decade to make American cities safer from terrorist attacks, the US has failed to protect itself in at least three key areas and remains vulnerable to cyberterrorism and "lone wolf" terrorists. Committee members said the US must develop better bomb detection technology, has not adequately improved radio equipment to allow police and fire departments nationwide to better communicate and has yet to develop a national identification card that could add another barrier to terrorists trying to slip into the country.

10 years after 9/11 terror attacks, emergency workers still struggling to talk via radios

09/01/11: The Washington Post reports that amid the chaos of the September 11 attacks in 2001, emergency responders found they could not communicate with each other. That problem persists 10 years later, according to a review of the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations. A National Preparedness Group report released Wednesday concludes that the recommendation that a nationwide broadband network for emergency responders be created “continues to languish.”

Laser advances in nuclear fuel stir nuclear-terror

08/20/11: The New York Times reports that In a little-known effort, General Electric has successfully tested laser enrichment for two years and is seeking federal permission to build a $1 billion plant that would make reactor fuel by the ton. That might be good news for the nuclear industry. But critics fear that if the work succeeds and the secret gets out, rogue states and terrorists could make bomb fuel in much smaller plants that are difficult to detect. Iran has already succeeded with laser enrichment in the lab, and nuclear experts worry that GE’s accomplishment might inspire Tehran to build a plant easily hidden from the world’s eyes.

Al Qaeda trying to harness toxin for bombs, US officials fear

08/13/11: The New York Times reports that American counterterrorism officials are increasingly concerned that the most dangerous regional arm of Al Qaeda is trying to produce the lethal poison ricin, to be packed around small explosives for attacks against the United States. Intelligence officials say they have collected evidence that Qaeda operatives are trying to move castor beans and processing agents to a hideaway in Shabwa Province, in one of Yemen’s rugged tribal areas controlled by insurgents. The officials say the evidence points to efforts to secretly concoct batches of the poison, pack them around small explosives, and then try to explode them in contained spaces, like a shopping mall, an airport or a subway station.

Air Force holds second exercise to test US-Russia hijack response in Alaska airspace

08/09/11: The Washington Post reports that the US Air Force is again holding joint exercises with Russia and Canada in Alaska’s airspace. KTUU-TV reports this is the second year for Exercise Vigilant Eagle. This year’s scenario is of an American passenger jetliner flying over Alaska that is not responding to air traffic controllers and no one on the ground knows what’s happening on board. Under the drill, the Air Force scrambles F-15 Eagles to pull alongside the airliner to make visual contact with the pilot and hijackers to get control of the situation. Once the exercise is finished, the forces practice their response on a Russian airliner.

Hackers infiltrate computer networks of thousands of companies

08/03/11: The Los Angeles Times reports that in what security experts believe may be the largest coordinated attack ever launched, hackers have for at least five years infiltrated the computer networks of thousands of companies, organizations and governments, stealing reams of intellectual property, military information and state secrets. The perpetrators probably belong to a government-sanctioned group from either Eastern Europe or East Asia, according to security analysts. The hackers not only broke in but remained embedded in the computer systems, quietly siphoning secret data for years.

Homeland Security plans to regulate bomb fertilizer

08/03/11: The Los Angeles Times reports that the Homeland Security Department announced plans Tuesday to regulate the sale of ammonium nitrate, 16 years after the fertilizer was used to make a bomb that killed 168 people at a federal office building in Oklahoma City. Under the proposed regulations, anyone who buys, sells or transfers 25 pounds of the chemical must apply to register with the department. Ammonium nitrate facilities must also keep records of sales or transfers of the chemical for at least two years after each transaction.

Court rejects challenge to airport body scanners

07/16/11: The Los Angeles Times reports that the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected a constitutional challenge to the government's use of body-imaging scanners at the nation's airports, ruling that the need to detect hidden explosives outweighs the privacy rights of travelers. The 3-0 decision announced Friday noted that passengers may avoid the scans by opting to undergo a pat-down by a screening agent. The ruling was a not a total win for the government. The judges said the TSA had not given the public the required opportunity to comment on the screening program before it was put into effect. The court ruled that the agency must do so now, but the use of body scanners could continue "without interruption," Ginsburg wrote.

New screening will let pilots fly through security

06/27/11: The Chicago Tribune reports that new security screening procedures will be tested at O'Hare International Airport starting this summer to allow pilots to speed through checkpoints without undergoing scans or pat-downs, officials said. It's a first step toward transitioning to a more logical risk-based screening and away from the current system of treating pilots and passengers as equal potential security threats, according to the Transportation Security Administration. 

'Son of star wars' base in Yorkshire finally ready to open

06/18/11: The Guardian reports that a "star wars" inspired defence shield that will alert the US to the launch of ballistic missiles is expected to be operational from a North Yorkshire airbase before the end of the year. The Space Based Infrared System is seen as the successor to Ronald Reagan's unrealised "star wars" programme, which would have detected Soviet missiles and shot them down using lasers. The new system, which has cost more than $10bn, has taken almost two decades to build and has been subject to numerous delays and cost overruns.

Department of Defense creates lab network for WMD response

06/17/11: Secrecy News reports that the Department of Defense has created a new Department of Defense Laboratory Network to coordinate existing programs on the assessment of and response to the use of weapons of mass destruction. The new Network is intended “to provide timely, high-quality, actionable results for early detection, confirmation, response, and effective consequence management of acts of terrorism or warfare involving CBRN [chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear] agents; infectious disease outbreaks; and other all-hazards agent events requiring a DoD integrated incident response.”

Hacker attacks show vulnerability of cloud computing

06/17/11: The Los Angeles Times reports that as hackers continue their rampage against the world's largest banks, defense contractors and technology companies, executives and government officials are confronting a sobering truth: The bad guys are winning. The seemingly unending string of high-profile attacks, most recently against Citigroup Inc. and Sony Corp., have shown that nearly every organization is vulnerable to a growing contingent of well-trained and agile attackers who are finding security holes faster than they can be plugged.

Commentary: The military alone can’t protect against increasing cyberattacks

06/12/11: The Boston Globe reports that the recent disclosure of a sophisticated cyberattack on RSA Security, a division of Hopkinton’s EMC Corporation, has left the many businesses who utilize RSA’s SecurID system scrambling to protect their data. The RSA incident followed a series of high-profile cyberattacks, including against Google’s Gmail service. While these attacks involved private companies, they also showed the interdependence between technology businesses and national security; RSA’s clients include defense contractors, and among Google’s hacked emails were those of government officials.

NATO, Russia hold unprecedented joint anti-terrorism operation in Poland

06/07/11: The Washington Post reports that NATO and Russia teamed up Tuesday to test their ability to fight terrorism, using a military transport plane to simulate a hijacking over Poland and sending in fighter planes to save it, an official said. It was the first time NATO and Russia, which doesn’t belong to the alliance, had conducted such an anti-terrorism exercise together. During it, the transport plane departed from the southern Polish city of Krakow and was “hijacked” as it flew toward St. Petersburg, Russia, said Polish Maj. Waldemar Krzyzanowski.

Virulent new strain of E. coli found in deadly European outbreak

06/02/11: The Los Angeles Times reports that a deadly outbreak of food-borne illness in Europe is being caused by an unusually virulent strain of E. coli that scientists haven't seen before and that may be dramatically more dangerous, global health officials said Thursday. The outbreak has prompted the US Food and Drug Administration to step up monitoring of fresh produce from Western Europe, which German officials have identified as the likely cause of the outbreak.

Commentary: Chilling echoes from September 11

05/23/11: The New York Times reports in an editorial piece that as the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania draws near, one of the main recommendations of the 9/11 Commission remains unfulfilled: the creation of a common communications system that lets emergency responders talk to one another across jurisdictions.

Regulators find design flaws in new reactors

05/21/11: The New York Times reports that in a setback for the only model of nuclear reactor for which ground has been broken in the United States, government regulators have found additional problems with the design of its shield building, a crucial component, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said on Friday. He said the company had not used a range of possible temperatures for calculating potential seismic stresses on the shield building in the event of an earthquake, for example.

Federal appeals court upholds renewal license for oldest nuclear plant

05/20/11: JURIST reports that the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) decision to renew the operating license of the nation's oldest nuclear power plant. The court held the NRC did not abuse its discretion in renewing the license for another 10 years for the 40-year-old New Jersey plant. The New Jersey Environmental Federation (NJEF) challenged the NRC procedures used to approve the renewal, seeking to force the NRC to reconsider the decision to renew the license. NJEF argues there is corrosion of the steel containment unit that encloses the reactor vessel may be causing radiation to leak into the Oyster Creek.

Millions cut from urban security grant program, leaving more than 30 cities without funding

05/19/11: The Washington Post reports that more than 30 smaller and mid-sized US cities are losing about $170 million in federal anti-terrorism funding that began after the September 11 attacks, perplexing some local officials at a time when information gleaned from Osama bin Laden’s hideout suggests al-Qaida is being encouraged to attack smaller targets. The Department of Homeland Security said Thursday that narrowing the list of cities eligible for Urban Areas Security Initiative grants is part of larger budget cuts that eliminated more than $780 million in grant money from the last federal budget. New York, Washington and 29 other high-threat urban areas will still receive grants this year.